Again with a birthday. Today The Dad turned... something (note: the skeleton made it into the decorating scheme because he's part of the family, which is why he got his own party hat, he's not there to represent old age). Sadly we didn't get to spend too much of the day with the birthday boy because he is taking some days off next week for our annual pilgrimage to Acadia National Park in Maine. The birthday was a part of the kiddos' day though as we incorporated some of the festivities-prep into "school."
Adjectives: words that describe nouns. This is a surprisingly difficult concept. "Likes to sing" is a lovely way to describe one's dad, but it's not an adjective, so sadly it didn't make the wall (apparently we're kind of fascist around here when it comes to parts of speech... wow).
Judd the Red Chicken came up with: "Good-tempered (most of the time)." It made me laugh... so then the kids started getting very silly and as usual, silly spiraled into scandalous. They argued that "Naked" is in fact an adjective and so wrote: "Naked (
The Dad is indeed: "Tall," as noted by his daughter... but the time and effort that went into this one also says that he's loved...
Getting to spend two hours in the DMV on his birthday (which is fortunate because I'm so glad I was born is exactly the phrase that most people think while at the DMV), combined with a hectic work schedule limited his opportunity for racking up the acts of service. It needs to be said though: he certainly hits his quota throughout the year.
This morning Friend A came by with a beautiful birthday cake -- a service and gift for The Dad, and incidentally one for me, as the resident cake baker (or rather, boxed-cake-mix stirrer). The kids watched it come through the door and marveled. Many times, as we anticipated the celebration, it was said, "That was so nice of her to make a homemade cake!" I pointed out that nobody asked her to do it, and she didn't ask if there was anything she could do... She just thought about it and did it. That is a valuable lesson to learn. If my students (and I, for that matter) took that lesson to heart today -- to look for ways to make people feel loved without waiting to be asked -- well, then I don't mind if we still need to work on adjectives.
Happy birthday, Daddy-o (you tall, good-tempered (most of the time) guy)!
